Toxic.

The older I've become the more I've thought about the people and friendships I have had throughout my life. Some friends have made it, some have not. Some people I know genuinely want the best for me and would support me in whatever I decided to do, and some..well they simply wouldn't. These people might act friendly and supportive to your face, but once you turn around the reality is different. These people can be described as toxic, and I thought I'd write down a few signs how to recognise a potentially toxic person in your life. The word 'toxic' literally means 'poisonous', which is what these kind of people can be in the worst case.

1) They are selfish. 

Toxic person will only think about their own feelings, their own emotions and their own reactions to things. They like to talk about themselves, highlighting their own achievements, their own feelings and their own life situations, while understating yours. They might ask you "how are you doing?" only to get the conversation started and while you are telling about your recent tricky work situation, they will remember a story from 5 years ago when they went through something similar. 

2) They need to be right. 

Having an argument with a toxic person is a battle that you will lose, regardless who is actually right or wrong. It is pretty much impossible for them to admit that they are wrong and they will argue their point across until you will just give up and let it go. They can't handle criticism well and get easy upset if you point out something that is not correct in what they are doing. 

3) There's always some sort of  drama in their life. 

Whether their purse got stolen on a night out, they got food poisoning on the day of a big exam or their boyfriend broke up with them for the fifth time this month, there is always something. They seem to be the unluckiest people on the planet and they make sure everyone hears about their dramatic life turns and gives them sympathy. They thrive on drama and the reactions they get from people while telling their dramatic stories and the attention they receive for it. 

4) They lie. 

This one is simple. Whether the lies are big or small, toxic people lie. They lie either to get attention, to get away from an uncomfortable situation or just to hurt people around them. 

5) They are too eager. 

This one will work in relationships, friendships or even in business partnership. They're too keen on achieving something, they're too excited about you and are putting too much pressure on the people around them. Relationships and friendships take time to build and too much eagerness will not help.

6) They're always the victim.

 No matter what is it, it is not their fault. If they were late for work, it is because their wife forgot to set their alarm clock. If they got a lot of questions wrong in their exam, it is because the professor didn't explain that matter in a simple way. While most people do this at least sometimes and it is pretty normal, for toxic people it becomes a pattern that just repeats itself through everything.

7) They don't have anything nice to say about other people. 

Let's face it, everyone b*tches about others sometimes, there's no denial about that. While a normal person might point out one or two negative things about someone else, they will also find positive sides from the same person. For toxic people, not so much. For them it's much easier to put a person down and list bad features about them, without shame. These people also act friendly to your face, but once you turn your back their opinion changes.

8) They don't let go. 

If something goes wrong for them, they'll dwell on it for days and days. They'll always find a way to bring the topic back to the same old situation where they were treated wrong. Some things are meant to be put in the past and left behind, well most things eventually, but not for toxic people. They will remember how 3 years ago you called them by a bad name in a heated conversation, even though you apologised for it on the same day.

9) They avoid things and are evasive. 

Ask a serious question from a toxic person and they will beat around bush until you've got so confused with their answer that you forgot about the question in the first place. They will do whatever they can in their might to avoid being confronted about something and giving direct answers. Usually the answer, if you end up getting one from them, ends up being a lie that they scraped together in their head while babbling on about unnecessary things in order to avoid having to tell the truth.

After reading all these, you can't help but think of how do you deal with this kind of toxic person in your life then? Simplest answer would probably be just get rid of them, but unfortunately it doesn't always work like that, sometimes you just are stuck with a person, whether it is family, partner, or a co worker. There are few things you can do, in order to support yourself and not letting a toxic person take control of you.

 

• You need to know your boundaries and stick to them - don't let a toxic person make you do or say things you don't feel comfortable doing or saying. 

• Keep records of anything that is decided with this type of person - this mostly goes for the working world, for business partners and co workers, or clients. 

• Be polite and honest. Even if the person you're dealing with might not be either one of these, don't let yourself fall down to their level, but instead be the bigger person so they can't have anything against you. 

• Watch what you tell them. Secrets, personal matters, confidential topics.. If you don't want them to be able to use something against you or you don't want the whole neighbourhood to know about, don't confide in a toxic person.

• Don't always be the shoulder to cry on, or the garbage can where they pour all their sh*t into. Negativity is contagious. If you only listen to the negative stories from their life and the bad stuff, you'll soon start thinking that way yourself and finding positive sides of your own life becomes increasingly more difficult.

• Be firm and stand your ground. If you know you are right, don't let them make you think anything else of it. Don't let them manipulate you and change the way you truly are. This is the hardest one of all of these, in my opinion, especially in a relationship. You have to know who you are and not them affect your own personality.

All these points that I mentioned are just a drop in the ocean in the lives of toxic people, but it is somewhere to start at least if you feel like you're dealing with someone who is not 100% good for you. Life is too short to be suffering because of someone else, especially if you have tried to address it more than once and they didn't take any notes from that. I'm not telling you to necessarily get rid of these type of people in your life, but once you recognise some of these features you might want to help them to notice it themselves too and encourage them to make a change. Whether it works or not, that's a completely different matter.

At the end of the day, if you cut them off it is because they handed you the scissors.

L.O.V.E.

How do you define love? There are so many different kind of loves, but I'm now talking about the romantic type of love. The one you feel for your husband, your wife, your partner, your soulmate. 

If you search on Google for the "definition of love" you get "an intense feeling of deep affection", "a person or a thing that one loves" and " feel a deep romantic or sexual attachment to someone". These are all pretty accurate descriptions of the word but what does love really consist of? What makes love genuine? How do you know you love someone, and not just 'like very much'?

I've been thinking about questions like this lately( as if I haven't had enough on my mind already with equations and radicals from my algebra class, or things such as thesis, ethos and pathos from my English 101 class..) For some people love happens more than once in their life and they believe each one of these loves has been "the one"; then there are people like me who have only been in love once in their life and are really and truly hoping for that one to last till they're old and grey. 

But how do you know when you actually love someone? Not just like them, or lust for them? Love and lust often go hand in hand and it can be hard to tell the difference between them. I think it is love when you're not only attracted to someone physically and don't long after them only because of their physical presence, but also because you worry for them, you wonder if they had anything to eat today, if they got to their destination safely or you just want to hear their voice on the phone. Even if you don't see them for days, or for weeks, or in my case for months, they are the first person in your mind when you wake up and the last person you think about when you go to bed. You want to share your thoughts with them, you want to tell them even the smallest little events in your day and want to know silly things from their day, such as if they had water or maybe a soda to drink with their lunch. Love makes you silly, love makes you care about the smallest little details, love makes you seriously worry over anything that has to do with them - the rash on his chest or the bad dream that kept him awake last night. 

 

It is fairly easy to fall in love - some people it happens in an instant while some are more protective over their feelings and take longer to let their guard down. But how do you make love last? How do you keep that exciting, sparkling feeling of new love? When the so called honeymoon period ends and reality kicks in, it is some times easy to question your love for someone. When you're listening to someone's snoring night after night, arguing over the smallest of things and repeating yourself like a nagging mother when all you want is a little piece of the romance, attention and excitement that you had in the past. That is when the authenticity of your love and feelings are truly tested. There come times when you just feel like giving up, letting it all go and going your separate ways. There's no denial in the fact that everyone gets these feelings but the important part is when you know how to deal with them. You don't go into despair and curse the whole relationship out, you don't go to your best friend and swear by leaving him right there and now (when she knows that tomorrow you'll be calling him the 'best boyfriend ever' again..) Those moments you have to stop and listen to your heart. Is it something that you can sort out? Is it something that even if it happens again, you can deal with it and not dwell on it for days and days. Is it something that isn't as strong as your love is?

In today's busy world it is easy to forget about showing your other half how much they mean to you. When the days are filled with work, studying, paying rent, paying bills, doing laundry and running errands it is easy to forget the perfect little moments that can mean so much in a relationship. Like how he commented on your nice looks in the morning when you're rushing out of the house, texting you in the middle of the day just to say he loves or misses you, covering you with a blanket when you fell asleep on the couch or squeezing your booty when you walk past him. Little acts of romance and affection are important, very important, no matter how old or new your relationship is. You should do regular date nights - it doesn't have to be anything fancy or expensive, but just to show that you enjoy each other's company and want to do things with them. Every now and then you should go out of your way and treat them to something special. I saw a great idea on social media some time ago, when a couple did secret date nights to each other, taking turns every month. You only tell your partner date and time and maybe dress code, but that's it. You could take them on a big day out, like helicopter rides or touristy days out in the city; or you could book a nice couples' massage and go to a pizza place for dinner. Use your creativity, it is not about budget or how big your surprise is; it's about the mystery, the fact that you're making an effort for your loved one. 

Regardless the state of your love, or how old or new it is, if you are one of the lucky ones that have found someone to love and the person loves you back; you need to cherish it. Cherish it, protect it, fight for it, flaunt it, do everything in your power to make it last. Lot of people of our generation think of love as something disposable- if there's a little hiccup there, you let go of it and find something easier to replace it. While I'm not encouraging you to stay in a bad relationship and you need to think about your own happiness and security, I'm reminding you that true love is extremely to find and you should never waste it for something petty. It is a very worn out saying but it is very true - never lose a diamond while collecting stones. 

New country, new start, new blog name... New everything!

First of all, my greatest apologies for the serious lack of these posts lately! And when I say lately, I mean for the last about 7-8 months... So much has happened!

London,Life and Lipsticks wasn't really a suitable blog title anymore since London has been left behind now. Miss P packed her life in two suitcases, one carry on bag and a 40cm x 40cm x 40cm Big Yellow Storage box and moved across the ocean to the United States of America. Not only did I change countries, but I also returned to school after many many years of working and instead of living with a female flatmate, I now live in a domestic relationship with a man (Gosh it is different living with a boy!)

Therefore, the title of the blog has been changed and I'm going to seriously make an effort to catch up with blogging! This new life started already a few months back so I've sort of settled into the new life and I'm hoping to write about the process of adjusting to a new country, studying as an adult, love and everything in between. Also, this is now the third country I'm living in so I'm hopefully I will be able to compare all these three together!

Any suggestions or ideas are more than welcome!

Happy to be back!

Miss P

I love spring.

Spring. I think it's the best season of the year after summer, which obviously is everyone's favourite. I love when the mornings and evenings are lighter, the sun shows its pretty face more often and you can dig your sunglasses out, ditch the winter boots and wear some pretty pumps and ballet shoes again and pull your cute blazers and leather jackets out of the wardrobe again. I mean that's if you're lucky and actually get decent spring weather - it's not always guaranteed in London!

To celebrate spring and April, I thought I'd post a few of my spring time favourites. Here's what I dug out from the Internet!

Ok, so now that you've been able to toss your winter coat at the back of the wardrobe and wear something much lighter (at least I hope so!) there are so many options and styles so you can just pick whichever floats your boat. 
I went to the mall the other evening and noticed that literally 30% of the people in London are wearing bomber jackets at the moment, both female and men. Every single store seemed to have them out too, so the trend has definitely hit the city. I bet we all remember the days when the chunky, thick, not-so-feminine bomber jackets were THE thing, but I think the trend now has luckily got a bit more of flattering touch to it, with an option of a light weight bomber, with the fabrics ranging from anything from thick to thin, quilted to satin and everything in between. I'm not sure if I'm going to catch up on this trend, but I do have to admit that they do look good on some people, especially on men!

Also, I saw a few really nice long and thin duster coats, which would look super nice with skinny jeans and some heels. There was one in Zara that I'm still thinking about and I might have to go back for it. Colours were quite down to earth, ranging from khaki green, to grey and tan, or you can always go for the classic black which would be my choice(like pretty much every other clothing item that I own...)
One thing I know for sure is that you will never go wrong with a classic blazer, they honestly go with everything and anything. I love them, I've got one khaki green, one in black, one in red.. you name it. I can't wait to start wearing them again.

When it comes to shoes, spring is the best. I'm not a fan of wearing socks, so the day that I can get rid of boots and socks has been waited for the whole winter. I've got a bunch of brogues, ballet flats, TOMS and other shoes that are calling for me to wear them, and there's no need to put socks on! White shoes are looking to make a return this spring, is there's to believe any of the fashion related websites that I've read lately. I'm not sure am I that keen on that, apart from white sneakers or Converses(which reminded me that I have to get a new pair, my old pair have come to the end of their life) I much more prefer nude or tan coloured shoes, especially ballet flats or pumps in those colours look really nice. Pair them with a ankle length jeans and you're good to go, or a little dress or skirt will go just as well. 

I've got this exact pair from Miss KG, which I already bought last year and they were my loyal partner through last summer. I might have to order a new pair as Asos still seems to stock them.




And for a night out, when you don't have to worry about getting your feet wet or cold on the way to the party any more, a pair of strappy heels is the winner. Once again, they go nicely with a pair of ankle length trousers or jeans and with a dress. These ones with a golden shade look super cool and feminine.

My ultimate favourite accessory though are sunglasses. They just are the best! I mean obviously protecting your eyes from the sun is important and squinting your eyes is bad (you're guaranteed to get more wrinkles!) but the fact that you pop a pair of dark sunnies on and no one will have a clue that your eye make up is not really on point, or the cute guy on the bus stop will not notice you eyeing up on him. Whatever the reason, you and your sun glasses are the winners. My trusted pair is one from Michael Kors, which is not a surprise as I'm a fan of the brand anyway, but they do make nice, classy sunglasses and aren't that bad when it comes to price. I'll definitely have a look around for another pair for this summer.

All we need now is decent spring weather! It seems like at the moment Mother Earth does not know what she's doing, as one minute it is beautiful and sunny and the next minute it's bucketing down. After 8,5 years in London I still do not get used to that, you always have to carry both sunglasses and an umbrella in your bag, if you're planning to go out for anywhere further than your corner shop.

On this note, let's all cross our fingers for some lovely sunny spring days, summer is on it's way!

All these items, apart from the sunglasses, can be found from Asos.com (You know it, we all love a bit of Asos)

Let's talk about hair dye!

Firstly - my apologies for the lack of posts! I've been pretty useless with the blog lately. I was away for a week and after that just extremely busy and occupied by other things (like trying to get the hang of normal life again...) Yes I know, all excuses but I promise to try harder again!

Today, while I was spreading hair dye on my massively overgrown roots and ended up with lovely glossy locks again, I thought maybe I should write about hair and hair dyes! I've been dyeing my hair pretty much forever, I remember my mom agreed to do it for me when I was about 13 for the first time. It was an nice auburn shade, meant to be just one of those light dyes that will wash off in a few washes and we thought it wouldn't change my hair colour that drastically (I'm not sure why we thought that, as my hair was this sort of boring mousey brown and it was a red shade that we put in!) but I ended up with strong, but beautiful, red shade in my hair. It was lovely but quite a big change for a first timer and it also did NOT wash off that easily...

Long story cut short, since that I've been dyeing my hair regularly and my natural shade is only a memory that comes and peeps out every 3-4 weeks reminding me that I need to do my roots again! I've had black hair, I've had red hair, I've had brown hair with lots of golden highlights that I then took much further and I tried to achieve blond(ish) hair which was a slight disaster...there's not a lot of photos of that era!

Now for a good few years I've been sporting a dark brown hair, which I've ombréed every now and then. Now I haven't even lightened the ends for a long time, but since I only dye the roots every month, the ends are slightly lighter anyway and it looks quite nice, especially in a natural, sunny daylight! I'm a lucky one since my hair colour is not one that requires super high maintenance, like lot of blonde colours for example, so I can easily do it myself and save some serious money by not having to go to the salon every month to do it. I'm a devoted fan of L'oreal hair dyes and the Preference range is my favourite. 

I'm very happy with my current colour but every now and then I'm thinking how nice it would be to have lighter hair (especially in the spring and summer!) or change it completely to something else. But then I always remember how much hard work it can be to lighten your hair and how much it damages it! No matter what people say, changing your hair colour always, and I mean ALWAYS, damages your hair. 


My latest hair colour crush is this plum shade! It is gorgeous, especially if it's quite dark, as in that in some lighting the hair looks pretty much black but when the light hits it, you can see the purpley shade. I've seen some beautiful ones online, but not that many in real life on the high street, so it's not the most popular choice but I think it's super pretty - maybe one day I'll be brave enough to try it!

As much as ombré dyeing might be a bit last season, I still really like it. I think it's a nice way to bring some life and change into your hair and it's not that hard to maintain as fully dyeing your hair. Plus it looks amazing if your curl or wave your hair, both in long hair and nice bob cuts. I've seen some pretty awful ombré colour jobs but it honestly is not that hard, as long as you know what you're doing and be careful not to leave the dye on for too long! L'Oreal has a really good kit for this as well, which I've used. Or even better, when you don't have a clue what you're doing, is just to go to a hairsalon and let a professional colourist to do the job.



Now I'm on a mission to be patient and let my hair grow a bit longer, I'm missing my long locks which I haven't had for quite a few years now. I always say that this time I'll let it grow but then I head to the salon and let them chop it shorter again, even though I only go in with the purpose of "cutting the bad ends off", I'm sure some of you can relate to this! But the long bob is a super handy cut, you can still tie it up and have it out the way but when let loose, it still looks airy and bouncy especially when you curl it. 


What are your hair colour favourites? Have you had any major hair dye disasters?

Hello, handbag.

Woman's handbag.

It can be big or small but the chances are high that it is full of stuff and a bit of a mess. But it carries all the essentials in it, through out your rushed, busy day and you have everything you need, right there with you! A man will never understand the importance of all the stuff in the bag, but will actually be grateful when you two are out and about and he's suddenly got a headache/runny nose/ dead phone/ dry hands/chapped lips and your gorgeous bag holds the solution to all these issues!(This is me talking from experience, my man is always asking for something and I'm always carrying everything with me. Plus I end up carrying his car keys and other small items with me too..)

Some women are extremely fussy and tidy and organised with their bags, some just could not care less. I'm something in between, I like to stay organised with the contents of it but sometimes I just can't bother. But what is for sure, I'm quite particular over my bags lately and only have about 3-4 nice bags that I use regularly, I keep them clean and like to match things.

So, I thought let me dig into my handbag and go through what's in there! You were lucky, I have just cleared my bag the other day, and took out a ton of used paper tissues(this horrible cold doesn't seem to go!) and a bunch of scrunched up shop and restaurant receipts, so it was all nice and tidy.

I'm actually fairly surprised how little my bag contained today! Usually it's a bit of a mess but maybe I'm unconsciously becoming more organised with it. Also, I always change my bag to another depending whether it's the weekend or a weekday - I have a nicer bag for weekends and another one for weekdays. Plus to make it a bit more complicated, I also use a different one on the days when I go to the gym after work. Usually I always forget something in the process of swapping my stuff from one bag to another one!

Anyways, as you can see, it contains all the essentials! 
Purse for money and cards and all little random bits, keys, pens, comb, sunglasses and a make up bag. Also, spare hair ties, disinfecting hand gel and wipes, hand cream(it's a disaster if this is missing!) a bunch of tissues, oyster card for travelling, headphones, gloves, umbrella (this is London after all, but see how it's very small and compact!). To top it all of, a selection of lip glosses, sticks and balms and little perfumes and body spray.  Oh and a pile of different medicines for anything from upset stomachs to flu and colds and everything in between, I consider myself as a sort of a walking pharmacy.

Apparently the average handbag of a woman weighs about 2.3 kilos, which I am not surprised at all!

What's in your bag?

The happiest girls have the prettiest nails.

Nails, nails, nails.
There's two kind of girls in this world - the ones whose nails are always spot on perfect, manicured, moisturised, healthy, shining and long. Then there's the other side, who could not care less about how their nails look. They're unpainted, uneven edges, messy cuticles and they're probably been chewed to their minimum length. I'd like to think I'm in the group mentioned first, but realistically thinking I'm somewhere in the middle. I try to look after my nails but the fact that no matter how carefully I apply my polish and let them dry, max two days later the polish has chipped. 
No matter what group you belong to, you can probably grab a few tips from here!

• Keep your nails and cuticles moisturised with oil. It can be a special nail oil which is made for the purpose or I've noticed that coconut oil is very good for it too, and castor oil, which I mentioned in one of my previous posts. I also mentioned eating Biotin to strengthen your nails and for the last couple of months that I've been religiously taking my tablets every day, my nails have become so much stronger. They're not significantly longer yet, but much better than they were before.

• Don't pick your nails. Those super annoying strips of skins by the side of your nails, or a chipped bit at the tend that you're super tempted to just pull off...don't do it. Instead use proper tools and even then do it carefully to avoid infection or bleeding. Oiling the nail and the skin around it helps to avoid them too.

• Always use a base coat, especially if you're using a strong coloured polish. I remember one summer using an amazing bright orange shade, but not using a base coat, and my nails had a orange-yellow hue to them for a several weeks after, yuck. 

• File your nails in one direction. This is such an old tip, but I can guarantee we all do the mistake of filing our nails with a sawing like motion. 

• Wear gloves when doing dishes or touching hot water, or handling chemicals while cleaning. Such an easy way to avoid harming your nails and your hands altogether, but I have to admit I very rarely do that.

Another great tip for painting your nails is to use a fast drying top coat. I could not live without one any more! Gone are the days of sitting down for 15-20 minutes feeling totally useless, waiting for your polish to dry and when you finally think it's dry and get up to do things, you stub your nail onto something and smudge your new polish straight away.  My two favourites are Deborah Lippman's Addicted To Speed Top Coat, or Sally Hansen's Insta- Dri, they're both very good. Sally Hansen's got couple other good ones too, to strengthen your nails.


In general, OPI is my favourite brand for nail varnishes, which reminded me that I need to stock up on few new ones next time at the airport in New York - the price at the duty free was so so much cheaper than on the high street shops! Barry M does nice ones too and are very affordable. 

There's a lot of women who keep on top of nail trends and choose their varnish colours by what ever is the latest trend. Personally, I couldn't care less. I'm more of a go-with-whatever-looks-nice-for-the-moment kinda girl. In the winter time I usually use dark shades, either black, very dark purple, dark reds, dark greens or greys. Lately I've also really grown to like very natural beige or nude shades, or a very light pink. Apparently one big trend for the moment is a matte white polish, which I personally am not very keen on, but might give it a try!

Summer time is the time for neon pinks, corals, bright greens and other bright colours. When I used to have long acrylics and got my nails done at the salon regularly, I experimented with colours and decorations and little details, but nowadays for my own natural nails, I just go with the plain colour which I find much more classy and simple, and more suitable for every occasion. Sometimes it's nice to add a little sparkle or a little diamond on the nail, but let's face it... who's got time for that? 

What's your favourite shade?

Run fast, run slow, run far, run close.... just run!

So I've never been the most sportiest type of person. Even as a kid in school, I didn't mind PE classes but it was never my favourite time of the day or week. By the time I was a teenager, and towards my late teens, my mom was very into exercising and sports and with her encouragement I did a bit too but mostly cos she pushed me to do it. 

I've always had a love and hate relationship with running - since I was much younger I've found it quite hard and exhausting and the memories of school running tests, where I never did particularly well, really put me off running. During my years in London I've always tried to pick up running as a regular thing but then after a few weeks or months something has put me off it again. Now, for the last few weeks I've become really into it again so I thought I'd write down a few tips that I've found to be working quite well for me. You could call it "Running for dummies" as I'm not any sort of a specialist in it!

• Running gear. I know it's not all about fancy clothes, or the newest running shoes but they do help! I find it very motivating that I can put on my nice running top, my coral coloured leopard printed sneakers ( I know they're awesome!) and even socks that match the shoes. You can go running in your old sweatpants and t- shirt if you like, but for me it gives a little extra buzz that I know my clothes and shoes are spot on for their purpose. With shoes I wouldn't cut corners though, it's important that you have decent running shoes and for women a good sports bra makes a massive difference.  My shoes are from Adidas (though for long I was a devoted Nike fan), my favourite sports bra is from Victoria's Secret and so are my running pants. VS and PINK do really good sports bras and yoga pants,which are perfect for running, and for gym too. I tend to buy them from America, whenever I go, as once again the price is quite a lot cheaper there than in the UK. H&M have recently added a lot of nice sports wear into their collection, I've bought really cool running socks and a nice little belt for my phone and keys from them, I haven't tried their actual sports clothes yet.

• Music. A good playlist on your phone or Ipod makes a HUGE difference, so you're not just alone with your thoughts counting how many damn laps to go till you can go home. I'm constantly adding new songs to my list and Spotify has a whole selection for workout playlists, which are worth checking out. I tend to listen to all sorts of songs, but I have started to prefer drum and bass, house, heavy hiphop and afrobeats as my running tracks. Chase and Status, Rudimental and a bit of Calvin Harris take me a long way, alongside bit of Future, Drake and a Fetty Wap.

• Track your run. Keeping track of your speed, the length of your run and your route is extremely helpful too. It's also great for keeping an eye on your progress. There's a ton of apps for running in the app stores, which I haven't even tried, but I've been using a Nike running app. It's good, it lists down all your runs, marks your fastest and furthest runs and you can tag your mood into each run, whether you felt good or bad. I used to have a lot of sad faces but now I've been giving myself happy smileys too! It's got a lot of other features too which I haven't even paid attention to, I'm keeping it simple.

• Variety in your running routes. This is something I need to start paying attention to. As much as I like the circling route in my local park, it is getting extremely boring! It's not a very long route and you have to do several laps to run the 45mins that I tend to run. For some reason I tend to be the only one running clockwise in that circular route, this morning every single other runner was running anticlockwise! 

• Make enough time for it. This is another difficult one for me, but I've noticed I enjoy it a lot more if I'm not rushing to go back home and to take a shower and get on with my day. I don't know how people go for their runs in the early morning before work! I rather go, do my run and come home and stretch out and shower in peace. Obviously this is only for the weekends now, winter time if difficult for running as by the time I come home from work, it's way too dark and late to go out for a run.

Let's see how long this running bug lives in me this time, but I'm pretty hopeful that I will keep up with it and learn to enjoy it even more. I'm still slow and don't run long routes, but I'm noticing small steps towards the better and I'm sure my marathon running mother will be happy for me! Never mind the fact that a bit over a week ago I took a major tumble in the middle of the road, fell flat on the ground and my knee is still hurting and sporting a nice bruise. 

Are you a runner, what's your best tip for a beginner?

New year, new me... Or new year but just the improved version of the old me!

If you take part in any social media website, there's no way you have missed the hundreds of 'new year, new me' posts and memes. Whether it is someone boasting to start a totally new life style, someone swearing to lose 20 pounds, finding a new job or dumping that useless boyfriend of hers.. we've all heard it before and being the cynical, half empty cup - kind of person, it's easy to just laugh at all these New Year's resolutions and wait for the people to give up and carry on with their old habits.

Yes it is a major cliché to make resolutions and say 'This time it's going to be different!' every year when we get to the end of December, but what's the harm in it? If you know you're most likely not going to stick to your decisions or promises, you might want to keep quiet about it, rather than posting it to all of your Instagram followers, but then again, a little bit of peer pressure from your friends and family (and strangers, let's face it, our social media pages are full of them) might not be that bad! Compassionate comments, support or even admiration of you doing a positive change in your life is never a bad thing, or even the doubting comments that try to put you down can't be that bad - in fact they should push you to try a little harder!

The beginning of a new year is always a great point to try something new in your life, or to give up on something that might not be good for you. Also, after the food and drink binging over the Christmas period there's no better time to try and be a bit healthier than January.

When it comes to setting goals for you for the new year, try to remember to be realistic though, especially if your resolution is something you haven't tried before or if it is particularly hard to achieve. It is obviously good to be ambitious and set yourself good targets, but there's nothing more depressing that the fact that you just simply can't achieve your goal. Same thing that applies to lots of other things - baby steps are the way go. 

I'm not massively keen on New Years resolutions or promises but I always try to find something to try in January, usually trying not to have any alcohol for the first month. It's been tough but I've succeeded in the past, so I'm trying it again. I've also read a few good benefits of cutting down dairy usage in your diet, and as I'm a devoted lover of Greek yoghurt and cheese, to the point that I pretty much live on them sometimes, I decided to try 

and be dairy free for January too.
It creates a massive challenge for my breakfasts though, as I have a proper military style schedule in the mornings anyway and I tend to have a quick bowl of yoghurt with muesli and fruit or berries, or porridge but I have armed myself with loads of boiled eggs, avocados and rye bread! We shall see if this experiment makes any difference but the fact that Khloe Kardashian lost 18 kilos with cutting dairy off her diet and basically living at the gym are giving me hope! Not that I'm trying to lose 18 kgs nor do I have time to move my life to the gym, even the 2-3 times a week is a bit of a struggle some times, but let's see! On top of that I have a list of things I'm hoping to achieve this year and make changes in my life, but those are more of a long term goals. Right now my only goal is to survive through the first day, and first week, back to work after the holidays and try to get my sleep routine back to normal. Sleeping till 10-11 am and then taking a two hour nap in the afternoon, and then staying awake till 3 am is not the way to carry on. Alarm set for 6.30am tomorrow! 

I'm also going to try to complain about life a little bit less, try to stress a bit less and try to stay more focused in things that are important and try not to waste time on people or things that don't really matter that much. I think those are all pretty good promises to anyone. 

No matter what your promise for this year, or for this January is, the main point is to stay positive and focused! Happy thoughts and positive vibes all the way!

What's your goal for this year?